구운몽이다... - la vita è

구운몽이다...

I have to go to class in about 20 minutes (well, to the library, and then to the international office to sign for my scholarship), so I'll make this quick.

I started the week in a pretty awful mood that just wouldn't go away, but suddenly Nick messaged me this hilarious quote from RuPaul's Drag Race ("Because I am what? SICKENING.") and my mood instantly cleared up. Not even joking. My obsession/love with that show borders on ridiculous.

I received a message from the graduate assistant of a professor in my department over the weekend, telling me to go in to meet him on Monday or Tuesday. I went in on Monday and he immediately dropped everything he was doing to tell me all about how he knew someone who was looking for a translator of a self-study Korean textbook for migrant workers, and would I be willing to do it? I spent a few days contemplating it before putting together my English and Korean resumes and getting a resume photo taken. (Yes, Korea requires resume photos. Silly.) I submitted everything last night and now I'm waiting for a call/email.

To be honest, I'm of mixed minds. On the one hand, I've been interested in translation, it would be nice to have something on my resume other than teaching, bringing in a little extra income would be nice, and it could result in a bigger and better job later on (c'mon, networking! and/or diversification of marketable skills!). On the other hand, I don't have the time. My studies come first, period. My visa only allows me to work 20 hours a week, and I don't even know the hours of the job, let alone what level the translation needs to be at. I ultimately decided to apply because, at the very least, it would let me update my resumes and get a nice resume photo for future jobs (maybe during vacation?).

The cherry blossoms have bloomed and I intend on going to 여의도 tomorrow morning - like, early tomorrow morning. I want to beat out the crowds and get some nice photos. I'm going to bring my DSLR camera and actually use it (shock! Horror!) for a change, because I've been lazy as fuck and haven't even touched it since I moved to Seoul, honestly. I think I'm going to start bringing it with me everywhere again, in an attempt to get back into photography, as well as have nice, high-quality photos to put on Instagram (because I am a social media whore). Plus, honestly? I have no real hobbies at the moment. For the longest time reading and learning languages were my hobbies, and these days I am doing both as part of my job (more or less... I consider being a graduate student a job, thank you very much). It would be nice to have a hobby outside of "using my brain."

Next week there's no class on Wednesday, but that doesn't matter, because I have a small presentation in my novel class on Thursday, and a big presentation in my classical novel class on Friday. The big presentation is about 구운몽, or (in English translation) "The Cloud Dream of the Nine", which is an incredibly fascinating, very good novel written in the 1700s. I highly recommend it. Fun fact: it's the first novel ever translated from Korean to English. How badass is that?

Anyways, time for class, followed by a trip to Lotte and a rousing Friday evening spent studying.